Composites of elastic and nonelastic materials have been made by bonding nonelastic materials to elastic materials in a manner that allows the entire composite to stretch or elongate so they can be used in garment materials, pads, diapers and personal care products where elasticity may be desired.
One such composite material is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,385,775, issued to Wright. That patent discloses a composite elastic material adapted to provide improved tenacity in one direction. The material includes: (1) an anisotropic elastic fibrous web having at least one layer of elastomeric meltblown fibers and at least one layer of elastomeric filaments autogenously bonded to at least a portion of the elastomeric meltblown fibers, and (2) at least one gatherable layer joined at spaced-apart locations to the anisotropic elastic fibrous web so that the gatherable layer is gathered between the spaced-apart locations. The gatherable layer is joined to the elastic fibrous web when the elastic web is in a stretched condition so that when the elastic web relaxes, the gatherable layer gathers between the spaced-apart bonding locations.
In another composite material, a nonelastic material is joined to an elastic sheet while the elastic sheet is in a stretched condition so that when the elastic sheet relaxes, the nonelastic material gathers between the locations where it is bonded to the elastic sheet. The resulting composite elastic material is stretchable to the extent that the nonelastic material gathered between the bond locations allows the elastic sheet to elongate. An example of this type of composite material is disclosed, for example, by U.S. Pat. No. 4,720,415 to Vander Wielen et al., issued Jan. 19, 1988.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,468,748 discloses a nonwoven fabric having machine direction elasticity which contains at least one fibrous web and a plurality of elastic cords, strings, bands, etc., which are joined to the fibrous web while the elastic material is stretched. Upon release of the stretching force, the elastic material contracts from its extended condition and puckers the fibrous material. U.S. Pat. No. 3,575,782 discloses an elastic material which contains partially extended spaced elastic yarns sealed between two gathered fibrous webs. Elastic yams are stretched, joined to the fibrous webs with a binder and then passed through a drying oven. Tension on the elastic yam relaxed and more heat is applied to cause the elastic yarns to retract or shrink, creating a shirred elastic material.
Other patents disclose reinforced textile matrices and stabilized continuous filament webs in which threads or molecularly oriented continuous filaments are stabilized in a substantially parallel relationship. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,680,213 discloses a reinforced textile matrix and U.S. Pat. No. 4,910,064 discloses a substantially parallel array of molecularly oriented continuous filaments stabilized by meltblown fibers to create a coherent nonwoven fibrous web.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,311, issued to Sokolowski, discloses an elasticized nonwoven fiber material made by combining textile fibers with elasticizable fibers and bonding them together. The bonded web is heat treated to heat shrink the web. U.S. Pat. No. 3,468,748, issued to Bassett, discloses a nonwoven fabric including a bonded web of individualized fibers, and elastomeric strands secured to the web to provide buckled regions in the web. U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,976, issued to Shawver et al., discloses a nonwoven fabric laminate having cross-directional stretch properties. The laminate includes an inner elastic polymer layer sandwiched between two outer crimpable spunbond nonwoven webs.